Stoyan

“Famous for his work with the Wake up Project and the Crucifixion piece, Bulgarian film music composer Stoyan Ganev is fast becoming a name to admire.

With a cornucopia of online material and several eminent movie pieces to his name, Stoyan Ganev’s profile continues to augment.

Amongst other things, Stoyan has gone on to showcase his talents at the Bansko Jazz Festival, as well as playing and recorded pieces for many Bulgarian music, TV and radio programs.


Born in April 1978 in Bulgaria, Stoyan Ganev embarked on his musical journey at the age of 13 when he started learning to play the bass guitar and double bass.

Being a self-taught musician for the best part of his life, Ganev managed to obtain first place in the National Conservatory Entry Exam where his love for film music and symphony orchestra really took off. In 2001, Stoyan became the youngest jazz bass player at the Bansko Jazz Festival. Stoyan also played with several Bulgarian jazz musicians of immaculate calibre, including, Milcho Leviev and Hristo Yotsov.

During his years in the National Conservatory, a young Stoyan Ganev delved deeper and deeper into the acquiesce and beauty of classical music.

Inspired by the likes of Shostakovitch, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, Bach and the legendary Ludwig Beethoven, Stoyan began writing his first compositions and simple orchestrations in his teens.

The influence of scores of teachers, including Jerry Goldsmith, Alan Silvestri, James Newton Howard and Thomas Newman proved inimical.

Wisely, Stoyan, familiarized himself with the finest computer software and hardware tools needed to create world-class symphony music simulations.

In his twenties, Stoyan enrolled to study music at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with Professor Tom Warrington at UNLV.

It was also there where he met distinguished composer, arranger and producer Johnny Pate, with whom he studied and whose words of wisdom and influence entranced Stoyan who quickly started hunting to score some films.

Unsurprisingly, films were not long in coming. Stoyan managed to get his first film music experience from some students and then went on to score a full 88 minutes in Gene Greenlees’ Sci-Fi film; The Paralyzing Agent.

In 2008 Stoyan moved from Las Vegas to Ottawa, Canada where he wrote most of the music for YouTube sensation The Arrivals Reloaded and Phase 3, otherwise known as the Wake up Project.

Stoyan Ganev’s compositions for the Wake up Project ranks amongst his well-known and most catching pieces.

One of the compositions entitled; The Crucifixion, become very famous. It also exponentially raised Stoyan’s profile as a film music producer.

Later Stoyan was contacted by the Wake up Project team with the offer to score The Arrivals Reloaded and to write some music for Phase 3.

It proved to be an inspired move and took Stoyan’s career as a composer at a whole new level. The Crucifixion is one piece which particularly stands out.

The notoriety gained from his work with the Wake up Project gave Stoyan Ganev the confidence to further extend and exemplify his composing and music skills.



The information was gathered through communication and consultation with Stoyan Ganev himself who provided much of the details. It is the first biography of its kind concerning the composer.

Copyright Rolly Pelovangu. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.